


Ragnarok

by Illiteracy_is_for_woozles



Series: The Future Is History [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (The plane kind), (sorta) - Freeform, A Parent Apologizes, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anger, Asgard (Marvel), Asgard's Destruction, Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Attempted/Forced Fratricide, Auras, Awesome Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Awesome Frigga (Marvel), Awkwardness, Battle Plans, Battlefield, Bifrost, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Loki Friendship (Marvel), Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Canon Divergence - Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Character Development, Character Redemption, Character Reformation, Completely Nuts, Contest of Champions, Control Disks, Death, Desperate Thor, Dogfight - Freeform, Dreams, Dysfunctional Family, Embarrassed Thor, Embarrassment, Epic Battles, Escape, Extra sensory perception, F/M, Fall of Asgard, Family Drama, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Final Battle, Fix-It, Fratricide, Frigga (Marvel) Feels, Frigga (Marvel) Lives, Frigga (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Gen, Gladiators, Good Loki (Marvel), Grandmaster is a Creeper, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Gungnir, Hela is Crazy, Homicidal Character, Ice Powers, Ice weapons, Implied Cannibalism, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Injured Loki, Injury, It Gets Worse, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Jewelry, Jotunn Army, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Jotunn | Frost Giant, King Thor (Marvel), Lies, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Loki gets a haircut, Loki is Slick, Loki is a fanboy, Meet the Family, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Mjolnir - Freeform, Muspellsheimr | Muspelsheim, New York City, Norway (Country), Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Odin (Marvel)'s Bad Parenting, Parent Frigga (Marvel), Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Peace, Planet Destruction, Prophetic Dreams, Protective Frigga (Marvel), Protective Loki (Marvel), Protective Siblings, Protective Thor (Marvel), Ragnarok, Rainbow Bridge, Redemption, Sakaar (Marvel), Sassy, Secrets, Shame, Slavery, Suspicions, Suspicious Loki, Teleportation, The Commodore, Third Wheel Loki, Third Wheels, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Thor (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Thor Gets a Haircut, Thor is a fanboy, Thor's Hammer - Freeform, Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Valkyrie Redemption, Visions, War, Wormholes, bad coping, healthy sibling relationship, peace treaties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-05 19:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17924681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles/pseuds/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles
Summary: Thor and Loki discover that Asgard is in great danger.A retelling of the film. (A Fix-It of sorts)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of things:  
> Firstly, if you haven't read the rest of this series yet, most of this won't make any sense at all.
> 
> Secondly, I wrote this in less than 36 hours when I expected it to take a minimum of two weeks of non-stop work, so I probably missed some mistakes in the film that I wanted to fix, but this will do just fine.
> 
> Thirdly, I will be putting individual trigger warnings in each beginning note, so you can always come to me on tumblr at @squeaky-floorboards if you need a chapter summary.  
> The Grandmaster is a creep and messed up, but he's also kinda trigger for me (on multiple levels) so I didn't really go into detail for him very much. If he's a thing for you, too, I'll be putting warnings in the beginning notes with the trigger warnings. Again: I didn't really go into detail with him, so he really just shows up but I'm just trying to be thorough here.
> 
> Fourthly, I'm taking a lot of plot-hole filler from the old 70s/80s comics for Brunnhilde (who's name never shows up in the script or the film??? I literally sat with the script on my screen for hours and scoured it for hours trying to find it even once, but it was always Scrapper, Scrapper 142, S142, Valkyrie, or Val) and I found the ship between her and Thor there while I was planning this months ago and went, "..... Yes."
> 
> And lastly, I really hope you enjoy this. Please leave me comments as you read, because I really want to know what you all think. I'll be posting on my usual schedule (once a day and twice on my days off) until it's finished and then I'll hopefully have Infinity War finished by then and ready to go.

Thor hated this. 

Ever since the Ultron incident when Wanda had affected his mind, he'd had these dreams: Asgard burning and his people screaming and in fear. He didn't understand it, but he had his suspicions and he knew he couldn't ignore them. 

He'd tried to stay close to Earth as much as possible, but the need to search and find the cause of his distress was too great. 

At one point, shortly after he and Loki had reconciled, he had confided in his brother his fears and told him everything. Loki had looked thoughtful and suggested that he speak to their mother about it. 

Thor never did speak to her; something was always coming up and the short visits he was able to spend with her he wanted to keep unsullied by negativity.

And that's how he found himself here: Surtur's Lair. 

In every single one of his dreams, Surtur was at the center of Asgard's destruction, so (as Magda would put it) the logical thing to do would be to make sure he was never able to make it there. 

Thor heard something creak and nudged the two dozing girls with his foot. They both snapped awake.

Torunn stretched as much as she could in her chains, obviously uncomfortable.

“How long've we been here?” Her voice was no louder than a whisper, though it echoed in the cavernous chamber. 

“Few hours maybe,” Thor offered.

Magda tested her chains again, searching for a weak link. Her brows crinkled together as she looked around at their surroundings. 

A few more noises sounded from below before the bottom of the cage dropped out from under them, plunging them into what felt like an endless drop.

Finally, the chains pulled taut and Torunn groaned. 

“Wow, this is a  _ horrible _ B and B. Expect a low rating.”

Surtur ignored the comment, probably not understanding it any more than Thor did. 

“Thor, son of Odin.”

Thor swore. 

“You're still alive! I thought my father killed you half a million years ago.”

“I cannot die, not until I fulfill my destiny and lay waste to your home.”

Magda scoffed. 

“So your life plans are to ruin someone else's planet?” She slumped and hung limply from her chains. “I just can't with this guy.”

Surtur held up a hand. 

“Who are these children?”

Thor grinned. 

“Oh, they’re mine.” He nodded his head to each daughter in turn. “This is Torunn and Magda.”

Surtur’s fiery gaze slid between the three, studying them for what felt like minutes.

Thor knew they didn’t share much of his appearance, but he was proud to claim them as his own. Their minds and hearts were exceptional.

“They have your eyes?”

Thor grinned, but quickly sobered.

“Hang on, back to the point.”

Surtur scowled.

“You said that you were going to destroy Asgard, which is weird because I’ve had dreams of Asgard up in flames and you’re always at the center of them all.”

Surtur’s eyes glowed a little brighter and he smirked.

“Then you have seen Ragnarok.”

“Ragna-what-now?” Thor looked to Magda. Trust her or Loki to know anything and everything he didn’t.

“The prophesied end of Asgard.” She jerked her head in the King of the Muspel’s direction. “He sticks his crown in the Eternal Flame, grows as big as a mountain, and plants his sword deep in Asgard’s core, obliterating it.”

“Even the humans know about it,” Torunn added.

Thor furrowed his brow and turned his attention back to Surtur.

“Let me see if I understand this right: To destroy Asgard, you need the Eternal Flame.”

Surtur grinned, a dark, evil thing.

“The Eternal Flame that Odin keeps locked away  _ on _ Asgard?”

The fire giant chuckled thickly.

“Odin isn’t  _ on _ Asgard and  _ your _ absence leaves the throne defenseless.”

Thor’s eyes widened for a split second before he masked his thoughts the way Loki had showed him.

“So, if I were to ask you where this crown was?”

“It’s on his head,” both teenagers cried with exasperation.

He furrowed his brows.

“Wait, that’s a crown? I thought that was attached to his face; like, maybe even a part of his skull.”

“It’s actually both.”

“Oh, so then it’ll be really easy to just take it then.”

Surtur stood and began dragging his sword behind him, making a scraping sound on the stone floor. Thor rolled his eyes at the frivolous display.  _ Such a waste of a good blade,  _ he thought as he called for Mjolnir. Out of the corner of his eye, he sensed Torunn preparing to summon her sword from the ether.

“Ragnarok has already begun. You cannot stop it,” Surtur monologued, completely oblivious to their actions. “I am Asgard’s doom, and so are you. All will suffer and all will burn.”

Thor rolled his eyes and smirked.

“How about we go with Option B?”

Mjolnir smashed through the wall and all three Asgardians shattered their chains, Thor and Torunn wielding their weapons and Magda conjuring her shadows.

It was on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and the twins return Surtur's Crown to Asgard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no self-control and wanted to post something before I went to work this morning, so have Chapter 2!
> 
> Warnings: Mention of Odin's garbage parenting "skills." (That's it for this one)

The observatory floor was hard when they landed and the dragon’s head hit with a heavy  _ splat _ .

Thor stood and brushed the soot and grime from himself, laughing. Torunn joined in but Magda just rolled her eyes.

Two women Thor didn’t recognize ran away shrieking with a sort of familiar man calling after them.

“Well, well, look who finally decided to pop in,” he groused. “Thanks for scaring away my company and drenching my workplace in brains.”

Thor looked around the building in confusion.

“Where’s Heimdall?”

“Odin told him to protect the Queen and that was the last anyone saw of them.” The man haphazardly tossed the Bifrost sword off to the side. “He took a whole slew of the lower class with them, too.”

The twins shared a look. Thor elected to ignore it for the time being.

“And my father?”

The new guard shrugged lazily.

“He disappeared shortly after. Said you and Loki’d be around to find him soon enough.”

Thor looked to his daughters, wondering if they knew anything about this, but their faces were carefully blank.

_ Lovely. Another secret to discover. _

  
  
  


When they arrived at the palace, the guards were all decked to the nines and nervous.

Hogun met him at the gate with an expression even more dour than usual.

Magda nodded a friendly greeting, the warrior returning it without the smile.

“What happened?”

“No one knows. The All-Father gave orders to the Gatekeeper and disappeared without another word.” Hogun tightened his hand on the hilt of his mace. “A raven was seen leaving the mountains yesterday and shortly before you called the Bifrost, Loki arrived through one of his paths.”

Thor nodded and headed into the palace, acknowledging the guards in the halls before passing Surtur’s Crown off for someone to lock up for him.

Torunn nudged his elbow and raised her brows in a question.

He shook his head, not sure if he even had an answer for her or knew which question she was asking.

The door to the throne room opened to reveal Loki pacing in front of the throne, chewing at his nails, and Uma standing off to the side with a carefully veiled expression.

Loki had gained weight, both muscle and fat, looking healthier than Thor had ever seen him and dressed in his usual black leather with the added furs he’d taken to wearing on Jotunheim. His heaviest cloak, a silver and black streaked thing that seemed almost  _ too  _ warm, had been cast on one of the steps and his hair was tied back in a braid with a silk ribbon.

“Hello, brother.”

Loki raised his head, his eyes lighting up even though his mouth stayed in a flat line.

He held up a piece of parchment.

“It’s good to see you.” He gave a small smile to his nieces. “And I trust you’ve been keeping your father out of trouble.”

Thor read the message, written in his mother’s hand, as his daughters and niece joked at his expense.

It was short, only a few sentences, but the message was clear: Loki was to meet Thor in the palace and then they were both to travel to New York on Midgard where a sorcerer would send them to where Odin was.

“Father? Is everything alright?” Magda’s voice was soft, gentle.

Thor smoothed out his expression.

“I’m not sure.” He shared a look with his brother.

“Mother sent it.” Loki held his arms out to his sides before letting them drop back down. “I’m here.”

The twins shared a look with each other before turning to their cousin.

“You know what to do.”

Uma nodded and hugged her father.

“Where are you going?” He wrapped his arms around her.

“Back to Jotunheim.” She let go and began marching for the door.

The door shut behind her, leaving Thor and Loki confused.

Torunn walked over and picked up Loki’s cloak, holding it out for him.

“So, Earth it is, then?”

  
  
  


**_Manhattan_ **

The sun shone down on them as they wandered the streets in clothes that would blend in on Earth. (Though, while the others looked like any other person you would see on the street, Loki wore a tailored suit and stood out just a bit)  


Loki studied the letter again, trying to parse out some clue that Frigga might have left them other than “Go to New York” while Thor and the twins stood awkwardly.

“Come on, there’s got to be something.” Thor looked to his daughters. “Is there  _ anything _ you can tell us?”

He was getting slightly desperate. His father made him angry and they weren’t on speaking terms, he might even hate the man after all that he had done, but family was family.

Loki would argue that he didn’t owe Odin anything, and Tony, whom Thor had had many discussions with on this particular subject, would agree. But he still felt like he needed to at least make sure his mother was alright in all this, and if that meant making sure his father was safe, then he would do all that he could to bring the man home.

Torunn looked at her sneakers, avoiding his eyes, but Magda shook her head.

“You ordered us to keep silent but gave us instructions to follow as things progressed.”

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

“Is this connected to Ragnarok?”

Loki squinted over the paper.

“I’ve heard that word before, but no one will explain it to me.”

Torunn winced.

“Yeah, the stories have gotten a little twisted up over the years, especially when it comes to you.”

Thor rolled his eyes.

“The only thing I know about it is it’s connected to my dreams and it ends with Asgard in flames.”

Loki hummed in thought and was about to speak when a circle of golden light and ancient symbols began to spin and glow around his feet. Two identical circles appeared around Torunn and Magda.

“Loki, what’s this?” Thor turned to Magda. “What are you doing?”

Both people had wide eyes and Loki shook his head in confusion.

“This… isn’t me.”

“Father, it’ll be alright. Just follow the card.”

The three of them dropped out of sight through solid concrete, Magda gasping and Torunn shrieking.

In their place? A business card with nothing but an address on it.

Thor picked up the card and read it.

_ 177A Bleecker St. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this story. It's just... It makes me so happy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Strange sends them to Norway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Character Death and Apologies from an Abusive Parent (There's no abuse, he's actually very nice and an old man, but he was abusive and horrible in the past, and that squicks me out so I just want you all to know)
> 
> Also, Loki never fell off the Bifrost in this universe so you can laugh at the "we've been falling for thirty minutes" line here in good conscience. (He's more annoyed here than traumatized.)

Stephen Strange was a man who lived up to his name.

After Thor asked, he was informed that Frigga had sent a message to Strange asking him to aid her sons in their quest for Thor’s father and the whole teleporting his brother and daughters was because he was a guardian of Earth and wasn’t sure if they were safe to welcome into his Sanctum, though he did agree to give them back before he sent Thor to Norway.

The three people fell from the ceiling and landed on the ground with loud thuds.

Torunn groaned and Magda hissed in pain.

“I would just like to be the one to inform you,” Loki said calmly as he stood and brushed himself off. “That we have been falling  _ for thirty minutes. _ ”

Thor glared at the sorcerer as he walked over to his daughters and began to check them over for injuries.

Strange rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I apologize.”

Loki ignored him and turned to the open portal.

“Is that where Odin is?”

“Yes.” Thor came over and stood beside his brother. “You don’t have to come with me.”

Loki looked at Thor like he’d grown a second head.

Thor shrugged.

Magda bowed her head to the Sorcerer Supreme.

“Thank you, Dr. Strange. I’m sure we will meet again.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t doubt it.”

  
  
  


They stepped through the portal into a green meadow overlooking a gray ocean.

Despite their picturesque surroundings, Magda subtly counted the knives she kept hidden beneath her clothes, while she knew her sister did the same with her own weapons.

Their father began walking towards the lone figure standing next to a bench-like pile of stones at the meadow’s other edge, Loki following close behind.

“Father?”

“Look at this place. It’s beautiful.”

He didn’t turn, but they could hear the smile in his voice. He didn’t seem to quite realize who they were.

Thor reached out for the older man’s shoulder, worry in his voice.

“Father, it’s us.”

Odin turned just slightly, looking between Thor and Loki.

“My sons. I’ve been waiting for you.”

Magda caught Loki’s flinch, though he tried to hide it.

She knew much of his anger had been worn out; after years of it festering he’d just… let it go in favor of actually living his life. But things like this still hurt, especially now after so many of Odin’s lies had been uncovered.

She just hoped things wouldn’t slide even further downhill for anyone after today.

“Mother sent us to come bring you home.”

“Home.” Odin chuckled. “That’s not why your mother sent you.”

Thor looked to his brother, who sighed.

“Mother’s letter never said we were to bring him back with us, just that we were to meet him here.”

Odin put a hand on his son’s shoulder in an effort to calm him.

“Come and sit with me. I don’t have much time.”

Torunn huffed a breath, obviously not sure what to do here. They both knew what was coming and, despite their father's turbulent relationship with Odin, what it would do to their family.

The pressures that would follow, with or without the battles, would shape both of their parents  _ and _ their uncle into the people that had raised them. It was… exciting, both in the negative and positive sense, to see.

The king of Asgard and his son sat, Loki choosing to stay standing by the side. Odin apologized for his failures, making Torunn roll her eyes and Magda have to elbow her sister. (Though, to be honest, “failures” was a light word when it came to his mistakes)

“It is upon us,” he announced. “Ragnarok.”

Thor shook his head.

“No, I stopped Ragnarok. I put an end to Surtur.”

The sisters side-eyed each other.

“No. It has already begun. She’s coming.”

Thor narrowed his eyes in confusion as Odin continued.

“My life was all that held her back, but my time has come. I cannot keep her away any longer.”

“Who are you talking about?”

Loki, arms crossed, looked over the heads of the two men in the direction of his nieces.

Magda nodded. Yes, he was dying, and yes, they were in danger.

“The goddess of death, Hela.” Odin faced Thor. “My firstborn, your sister.”

Both princes’ eyes widened and they looked to each other for confirmation that they had heard the same thing.

Magda closed her eyes, knowing what was coming next.

Her father continued to ask questions, all of which went unanswered, and Odin said his goodbyes. The trio lapsed into silence as they looked out over the ocean.

“Remember this place,” Odin said after a few moments. “Home.”

A light shone around them and Odin dissipated into stardust, leaving them alone in the silence.

Loki was the first to speak.

“Brother, I-”

“Don’t.” Thor held his head in his hands.

Torunn stepped forward and knelt beside her father.

“I know it’s hard, but you need to get up. There is no time to mourn right now.”

Thor sniffed and swiped at his eyes before standing.

Magda stepped closer to her sister, stopping for a moment to whisper in Loki’s ear.

“When we call the Bifrost, you must hold onto our father no matter what. Don’t take one of your paths and  _ don’t let go  _ until you reach the ground _.  _ Everything will be fine as long as you stay together.”

He nodded, his eyes filled with grim determination, and they both took their places by their siblings’ sides.

All four warriors transformed into their armor and brought out their weapons just as a black portal split the sky and a piercing scream cut through the air. A dark figure came hurtling towards the ground, crashing with both the quiet destruction of a comet and the dignity and grace of a dancer.

Hela, the emo-goth nightmare woman that she was, stood before them menacingly.

“So, he’s gone? That’s a shame. I would’ve liked to have seen that.”

Magda held her breath as her father shifted his stance.

“You must be Hela. I am Thor, son of Odin.”

Hela chortled.

“Really? You don’t look like him.”

Loki lifted a hand, a peace offering.

“Perhaps we can reach an arrangement.”

Hela looked Loki up and down, noting his Jotun attire with a smirk.

“You sound like him, though.”

He shifted uncomfortably, Thor tightening his grip on Mjolnir.

“And who are you two?” She turned to the twins. “Some of the new Valkyries, I imagine, by your armor. Love the updates, by the way.”

Neither of them answered, keeping their limbs loose.

She turned back to the men.

“Kneel.”

Loki took a step forward.

_ Uh-oh. _

“I  _ beg _ your pardon?”

“Kneel before your queen.” She grinned.

“I don’t think so.”

Thor wound up Mjolnir and hurled it at her head, only for the hammer to land with a dull thud in her open palm. He tried to call it back, but all Mjolnir did was tremble in the witch’s hand before she shattered the object with a blast of energy, nearly knocking them off their feet.

Loki looked to Magda with panic in his eyes and a question.

She nodded before looking to the skies and crying out.

“Bring us back!” She attached the retractable para-cort and climbing clip she always kept on her to Torunn’s own belt just before the Bifrost opened up.

Loki wrapped an arm tightly around his brother’s torso, Thor shouting for him to let go, and buried his face in the Thunderer’s back as they were sucked into the the bridge.

Hela charged them and leapt into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I have to give a shout-out to @nox-th-lk-sf on tumblr. They made me cry with their compliments. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hela follows through the Bifrost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Assumed character death and the resulting immediate grief; a reference to Loki's experiences with the Grandmaster in the movie, but the characters don't really know what happened just that it was bad and they're not supposed to meet the dude; and canon alcoholism.

The Bifrost carried them upwards and straight towards Asgard.

Thor looked behind him, to where his brother still held tightly.

“Loki, what are you doing?”

“Magda said not to let go!” he shouted.

Thor faced forward to see his daughters a little further down, attached literally at the hip by a short rope, with weapons drawn and facing back the way they had come.

Hela had followed them.

“Loki, she’s coming.”

His brother only tightened his grip. Thor couldn’t fight her if he didn’t let go.

“Loki,  _ please _ . She will kill them.”

“Magda said not to let go,” he repeated.

Torunn pulled two daggers out of the ether and threw them at the mad woman, hitting her mark, but she kept coming.

Hela plowed right through the Bifrost, knocking the twins through the side.

Thor screamed in anguish, his heart giving way. What even happened to those who fell? There was  _ nothing out there _ .

Rage filled him where emptiness came.

“Be still, Thor.” Loki’s voice was calm in his ear, though it trembled with its own kind of sorrow.

Hela projected a grappling hook up at them, grabbing hold of Thor’s leg and digging in. It began drawing them both to her, Loki still hanging on for dear life.

“Let go,” Thor ordered.

Loki shook his head, arms tightening even more. He kept chanting “ _ Don’t let go”  _ and “ _ Everything will be alright” _ like mantras under his breath as they neared Hela.

When they were close enough, Thor kicked her with all of his might, dislodging her hold and the grappling hook but also knocking the brothers off course and sending them hurtling out of the Bifrost.

  
  
  


**_Sakaar_ **

Torunn wrapped her arms around her sister, covering Magda's head as best she could, trying to take the brunt of the landing as they came hurtling towards the junkyard.

They landed on top of a pile of debris with a crash, Torunn turning herself at the last second to take the hit, and rolling down the hill.

“Are you alright?”

Magda’s hands began patting her down from top to bottom, fear and adrenaline still coursing through both their veins.

“I’m fine, sister.” Torunn pushed her away, sitting up and looking around just as a gray ship with white, red, and navy blue decals landed nearby.

Both girls stood, brushing themselves off and taking steadying breaths.

“Do you have it with you?”

Magda patted the top part of her armor, where they both knew her “necklace” was hidden underneath.

The ship’s ramp came down and the woman they knew would be flying it descended with a mostly empty bottle in her hand.

She took one look at the two of them in their Valkyrie-inspired armor and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Oh, I am  _ really _ not drunk enough for this.”

Torunn cocked her head to the side. It was strange. They’d always known her to have already sworn off drinking. She always said it had blinded her to her worst decisions.

Magda raised her hands in the universal gesture of surrender and Torunn followed.

“We’ve come with a message.”

The Valkyrie sighed, her head rolling back and then forward again, before pulling a small pistol from her side and pointing it at the girls.

“Alright, who are you?”

Magda smiled apologetically.

“You won’t believe us, but you’ll believe the message.” She undid the chain around her neck and pulled the small chip from inside her armor, holding it out for the Valkyrie to take.

It looked like a piece of stained glass to anyone else, with metal cast in between the colored shapes to hold it together, but the other woman would recognize it as a kind of USB native to this planet.

She kept the pistol up but took the storage device, studying it a moment in her hand before pocketing it.

“Alright, into the ship.” She waved the gun.

“Only if you promise to look at that before you take us to the Grandmaster,” Torunn insisted.

Uncle Loki had made them  _ swear _ to make sure of that. He’d refused to explain why, but they knew not to disobey.

The Valkyrie growled but acquiesced.

Torunn lead the way up the ramp and inside. They were both tossed a pair of cuffs.

“Put those on.”

The twins put them on each other and sat in uncomfortable seats attached to the ship’s walls.

The Valkyrie double-checked that their restraints were secure before holstering the gun and took the memory chip up to the cockpit. On her way out the door, she activated the force field around their seats.

They heard the video file start up and their mother’s recorded voice faintly through the walls.

It made Torunn smile, a mildly delirious giggle bubbling up. It had been so long…

Magda reached over and took her hand, their cuffs rattling together.

They sat in silence for the full thirty or so minutes, though it felt like longer, until the Valkyrie stumbled out with wide eyes and a dazed expression.

She shook her head and pointed at the twins.

“There is  _ no way _ I am your mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up tonight, since it's my day off.  
> Don't forget to leave a comment. (People don't typically and I have no idea what people are thinking about these stories most of the time)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Loki land on Sakaar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where it gets weird and interesting.
> 
> Warnings: The Grandmaster shows up here. I hate him so very much and I know he's a trigger for a lot of other people besides me, so here's your warning. (Loki is /not/ flirting here. Just want to make that abundantly clear to the creepy people who might be reading this. He's just a slick dude who knows how to play an egomaniac like a fiddle to get his way)  
> Also, in the last chapter Thor saw his daughters "die" so he's grieving in a very Asgardian way, i.e. violence.

**_Sakaar,_ ** **Two Weeks Later**

They landed with a crash, Loki still hanging on.

Thor shoved him away as soon as he had gathered his wits, clambering to his feet in a rage.

Loki tackled him out of the way of falling debris, causing them both to slip down a dune of garbage.

Thor struggled to his feet again, shouting angrily.

“Stop touching me!”

“Thor...”

“No!”

He ran a hand through his hair, fighting back tears. Just because the two of them had survived, didn’t mean his daughters had been so lucky.

A group of people came up to them, strange even to Thor. Or they would be if he was paying them any real attention.

“Are you fighters or are you food?”

A malicious grimace made its way onto Thor's face as he picked up a nearby piece of debris and got ready to start swinging.

“Thor, _don't_ ,” Loki warned, but he was too late.

The Thunderer didn't get through too many of the scrappers before a silver disk was attached to his neck and incapacitated him.

  
  
  


“Took you long enough.”

Thor woke up to a pounding headache and those words from his brother.

He was strapped to a chair and, when he looked to his right, so was Loki.

“Where are we?”

“I don't know.”

The chairs began moving forward, being pulled through a dark tunnel as a disembodied voice spoke and images flashed around them.

“Fear not, for you are found. You are home and there is no going back. No one leaves this place.”

The brothers shared a look.

“But what is this place? The answer is Sakaar.”

Loki shook his head at Thor's silent question. He had no idea.

“Surrounded by cosmic gateways, Sakaar lives on the edge of the known and the unknown.”

“Like a pocket dimension,” Loki mumbled.

“It is the collection point for all lost and unloved things. Like you.”

Thor frowned at that. They weren't unloved. Lost, yes, but not unloved.

“But here on Sakaar, you are significant. You are valuable. Here, you are loved.”

Thor didn't like the way it called them “valuable.” It sounded…  _ wrong _ .

“And no one loves you more than the Grandmaster.”

An explanation of who the Grandmaster was and that they were his property. Thor began to pull at his restraints, Loki doing the same.

A chaotic display of lights and images nearly sent Thor into a fit when, suddenly… 

The tunnel was gone and they were in the middle of a throne room of some kind with light and oddly dressed people.

A strange man stood in the center of the room directly in front of them, excitement written across his face.

He and the man that had asked Thor if they were food started haggling prices like he and Loki were cattle to be bought and sold. It made Thor's stomach turn.

They came to an agreement, leaving the two princes with their new “owner.”

“You'll pay for this,” he called after the man, only to get a cruel laugh in return.

“Grandmaster.” Loki's voice was silky smooth. “We understand you are the ruler here, and that is very impressive. Did you really build this planet from the ground up yourself?”

Thor looked between the two men. Had his brother lost his mind?

“I did, actually, yes.” The Grandmaster brought a finger to his lips before wagging it around. “Actually, that's a long and fascinating story, you see-”

“We're not for sale,” Thor interrupted.

Loki glared but the Grandmaster just laughed.

“You're right, you're not.” He held up a small device that moved their chairs, pulling them behind him as he left the room and sauntered down the hall.

They entered a room that reminded Thor of a club like the kinds he'd been convinced to visit back on earth a few times, but this one seemed more… chaotic in some way.

The Grandmaster walked around to a group of musicians, still pulling their chairs behind him, and began playing a strange instrument as he spoke.

“My name is Grandmaster. I preside over a little harlequinade called the Contest of Champions. People come from far and wide to unwillingly participate in it and you, my friends, might just be a part of the new cast, what do you say that that?” He clapped his hands together excitedly and continued playing.

The brothers exchanged a look while the mad man became more involved and distracted with his “music.”

Thor took a moment to look around. His eye was caught by a woman in black armor and white face paint coming towards them.

His heart felt like it had caught in his throat and he couldn't breathe, causing Loki to look as well.

She looked like an older version of his daughters.

“Scrapper 142!” The Grandmaster didn't stop his playing but grinned even wider and may have even giggled. “Scrapper 142, these are-”

He laughed and lightly tapped his forehead.

“I'm sorry, I just realized I never asked your names.”

Thor tried to speak but it was like seeing a ghost and a premonition all at once. Loki took mercy on him and answered for them both.

“I am Loki and this is my brother, Thor, of Asgard.”

The Grandmaster started making jokes about Asgard's name, but Thor hardly heard.

Contrary to popular belief, he was not stupid. He knew who this was supposed to be and it  _ hurt. _

Loki was playing the part of friendly guest well enough for the both of them and the Grandmaster was eating out of the palm of his hand, but Loki kept slipping looks in his brother's direction.

The woman smiled at the Grandmaster's jokes, listening politely and ignoring the brothers for the most part.

“Oh, before I forget.” The Grandmaster turned to the Scrapper. “How are those nieces of yours doing?”

Scrapper 142 smiled, and Thor looked closer. He recognized it now as the one Torunn used when she was in no mood to be around people but had no choice and wanted to appear polite and friendly.

“They're great; picking up the ropes already. I'll be back to my regular job in a few days, I assure you.” She put a hand on each of the backs of the control chairs. “But right now, I'm exhausted and would like to get some sleep.”

The Grandmaster bid her stay, but she begged off easily enough.

Just before she left, though, she was able to lean between the two princes and get close enough for them both to hear her whisper.

“We have a plan, you just have to survive long enough for us to get you out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just say that that light show in the tunnel was evil? Like, it was hypnotic in the fact that you couldn't look away but it just was... too much sensory overload.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor grieves and gets some good news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: More grief and mourning, a brief allusion to the Grandmaster being a creeper but nothing outright said or shown, and evidence of physical assault. (Again, nothing outright and blatant other than bruises and a few possibly-cracked ribs)
> 
> Also, I feel like I should let you all know that I am very sick (yay, fevers and coughing fits) and spent the first six hours of my eight hour shift doing my job alone and hardly able to get a break to pee, let alone an actual lunch break, so forgive me if the editing on this chapter is crap.

They'd been told that, if they fought in the Contest of Champions and won, “their freedom they would win.”

Neither he nor Loki knew what their other options were, but their introduction to the planet had been to be asked if they were fighters or food, so they chose the evil they knew.

The brothers had been split up, the Grandmaster apparently taking a liking to Loki and wanting to see him in private.

Thor had been thrown into a strange, infinite, circular cell with other prisoners.

A man named Korg explained to him the way things worked, but in such a way that he still didn't hardly have any information.

The Thunderer pulled at the obedience disk on his neck, nearly ripping his skin in an effort to get it off. It was embedded deep and impossible to take off. He’d tried countless times in the hours since he was imprisoned, only succeeding in making himself bleed and the skin around it turn red.

He collapsed to the floor against the wall on the opposite side of the circular room from the door, fighting back tears again.

He’d tried not to think too much, tried not to remember his daughters’ faces as they were thrown from the Bifrost. But… it was impossible in the quiet of this place.

He sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall.

“Magda and Torunn,” he began, voice thick. “I bid you take your place in the halls of Valhalla.”

He heard a door open and someone stumble in, but ignored it.

“Where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn, but rejoice-”

“For those that have died the glorious death,” Loki’s voice joined.

Thor opened his eyes to see his brother limp over and slide down next to him, holding his ribs.

“What happened?”

Loki winced.

“The Grandmaster let me live. I’d say that our conversation went fairly well.”

Thor gestured to his beaten and battered appearance.

“I meant  _ this. _ What happened to you?” He brought a hand up to the bruises lining Loki’s temple, blackening around his eye.

Loki flinched back, but not in a way that said he way in pain. Thor frowned.

“Loki…”

“Don't worry. I'm fine.” The trickster began studying their surroundings. “The woman said to survive long enough and she would get us out.”

“Yes.” Thor felt the darkness setting in again.

Loki nudged him.

“We'll get through this, brother.”

  
  
  


“Yuck! There's still someone's hair and blood all over this!” Korg continued to complain to anyone who would listen (and those who wouldn't) about the poor state of their weapons.

Loki admired the daggers on the racks as Thor looked around, trying to find a way out.

Over by the bar, on the other side of the electric fence, a familiar face caught his eye.

Thor turned away, guilt and sorrow churning in his gut at the thought of who she reminded him of, but he whipped his head back around when he registered what the Scrapper wore around her neck: Magda's necklace. She _never_ took it off, so why was this woman wearing it?  


“Hey!” He nearly ran into the fence trying to get her attention.

“Thor!” Loki jogged after him.

The Scrapper glanced around before coming over to the divider.

“What?” She put her hands on her hips.

“Where did you get that necklace?”

The Scrapper blinked and sighed. She looked around again, ensuring no one was paying them any attention, before lowering her voice.

“Magda gave it to me.”

Thor swallowed the lump in his throat. He had thought they were…

“And Torunn?”

“They’re both on my ship. I told the Grandmaster that they were my nieces, so he’s given me permission to train them as scrappers.”

Loki held up a hand, halting their conversation.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

Thor gestured to the woman. Her appearance, the necklace, the fact that her first words to them had been a promise of escape; it all added up to suggest that she was on their side.

Loki’s eyes were hard as he hissed.

“The Grandmaster is a dark, dangerous man, regardless of how care-free he presents himself, and she is obviously one of his favored subjects. And have you even realized what a scrapper _ is? _ ”

Thor looked to the woman, self-disgust and shame clouding her expression.

“I haven’t done anything to accrue favor from him since I found Torunn and Magda,” she assured.

Loki scoffed.

“How long has that been? A day?”

She shook her head.

“Time works differently here. They fell through one of the portals two weeks ago.”

Loki sighed and turned to Thor.

“You need to think clearly about this.”

Thor ran a hand through his hair.

He knew Loki was just trying to be the logical one here. They’d lost so much in a short period of time and his mind was not as clear as it usually was, but he so  _ wanted _ to believe that his daughters were alive and safe and happy. But this planet… All he had seen so far had been darkness and fear.

“They said you would only believe me if I showed you this.” Her words were bitter and harsh as she pulled down one of her gauntlets, exposing a blue tattoo on her forearm.

Thor’s eyes bounced from the image to her face, grumpy and frustrated.

“You’re a Valkyrie,” he breathed.

Loki smacked his arm repeatedly, his own jaw dropped.

“Not anymore,” she corrected, fixing her sleeve. “Give us another day and we’ll have you out of here.”

Thor’s mouth had dried in his fanboyishness, so he just nodded as she walked away.

“You married a Valkyrie,” Loki hissed when she was far enough away not to hear.

“I know!” Thor’s voice had risen nearly three octaves and he cleared his throat.

“Okay, okay.” Loki held his hands together in front of his face as he took a calming breath. “We just need to survive the next day or so.”

Thor shrugged.

“How hard can that be?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Thor, honey... No one ever says that and has things turn out okay...


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear, heavens, I am so sick I am actually going to call in to work as soon as a manager shows up (Fun Fact: I'm always the first one at my job, including the managers. No one will be there for another hour and a half.) so enjoy another chapter that wasn't supposed to be posted until tonight.  
> I say "enjoy" like this is a fun chapter. It's not. I cried while writing this.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling violence, attempted/forced attempted murder, and the Grandmaster is a tool who needs to die.

It was harder to get through a single hour, let alone a day, than Thor had initially thought.

He ran a hand over his cropped hair, grimacing. Never in his life had he ever had short hair. It felt strange and his head was cold.

The Grandmaster’s voice echoed through the arena, being muffled just a little by the door.

He prepared himself as best he could, adjusting his grip on the mace he had acquired.

He had been told that the match was to the death, but he had no clue who his opponent was, though it didn’t matter; they died and he got to see his family again. Cut and dry, plain and simple.

The Grandmaster introduced him and the door opened.

Thor marched out into the lights, donning his helmet as the crowd cheered.

He grit his teeth as the Grandmaster continued to hype up the crowd.

It was his hope that he wouldn’t have to fight Korg or Miek. They had been friendly to both he and Loki, welcoming in a place that had been anything but. He wasn’t sure if he could live with himself if he had to kill either of them.

“And hey, there’s one last surprise for both of our fighters.”

Thor groaned inwardly. That kind of sentence was never a good sign.

The gate at the other end of the arena opened to reveal…

“How do you guys feel about a little fratricide?”

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause, but it was drowned out by the crashing silence in Thor’s head.

He felt his limbs grow cold as his brother stepped through the opening, twin blades in each hand and hair cut short, but not as short as his own.

The look on Loki’s face reminded him of when his brother had first been thrown into the holding area with him: filled with fear.

It wasn’t an emotion Thor was used to seeing on that face; it wasn’t right.

They both neared the center of the arena and Loki schooled his expression into something a little more neutral, though they both knew it was false.

“It’s alright, brother.” He smiled, a sad thing. “I’ll let you win.”

Thor stumbled back a step.

“Look up.” His brother nodded over Thor’s left shoulder to where a cluster of ships were parked, one of which had three figures that Thor recognized as his daughters and the Valkyrie seated in the open cockpit.

He looked back to his brother, shaking his head.

“I will not fight you, Loki.”

“They will kill us both if you don't.” He chuckled darkly. “Get it done quick and you can take them home.”

The crowd began to boo and hiss, growing impatient.

“My family will be taken care of,” Loki assured. “You have your own and all of Asgard to look after.”

Thor shook his head again. He wouldn’t. He  _ couldn’t. _

Loki backed up a few steps and threw his weapons to the side.

“Either you kill me, or I  _ make _ you kill me.”

A sheet of ice spread across the ground, eliciting gasps from the audience, as he allowed his Jotunn form through.

“Don’t do this,” Thor pleaded.

Loki conjured an axe of ice with a hammer on one side and brought it down, forcing Thor to lift his shield.

“Loki,  _ please _ .”

A lock of hair fell into the Jotunn’s eyes as he stepped back and readied another blow.

“I'm sorry, but we have no choice.” He brought the hammer down on the shield, shattering it with the cold. “You just have to make it through today.”

They both knew he was giving Thor ever opportunity to beat him, not blocking at all and using a weapon and style he had no experience with. His every attack was sloppy and too wide.

He accidentally knocked Thor’s mace away and kicked him in the stomach.

Thor grit his teeth, anger welling within him.

They shouldn’t be fighting. The Grandmaster was insane, forcing brother against brother. He just wanted to take his family back to Earth and make everyone laugh at him again for his failure to understand human cultures.

Avengers movie nights. Danny had a school play coming up in April. He even missed the stupid arguments they had.

Then, on top of all that, Asgard needed him and he was trapped  _ here _ .

This place was keeping him from his family and his people, was forcing him to fight and  _ murder _ his own brother.

All of this filled Thor with rage.

And suddenly, Loki was blasted all the way to the far wall, landing on his back in the sand. He still breathed, much to Thor’s relief.

Thor looked down at his hands, lightning crackling from his fingertips and up his arms.

The world shone, strange auras surrounding every living thing.

Loki shone golden, even unconscious. The Valkyrie was surrounded by a mist the color of rich earth, the kind you would think would be perfect for growing things in after a rain. Torunn had a red glow encompassing her, blood and life. Magda was shrouded in a cloak of lavender, sparking off in waves like blooming petals.

When he looked up into the VIP box, the Grandmaster himself seemed to suck in all light and life around him like a black hole.

Thor advanced on him, electricity growing into wide arcs around him.

The Grandmaster raised a hand containing a small device. He pressed a button, sending a searing, white-hot pain through the Thunderer’s veins.

All Thor felt was his knees hitting the ground as his vision faded to white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki was breathing!!! I made sure to include that, because otherwise I'd probably stop breathing myself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They made it a day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaayyyyy, two chapters in one day.  
> This one is weird again, but it's also where a lot of the final action kicks off and doesn't stop, so there's that.
> 
> Warnings: References to the Grandmaster being a creeper, again. (Very similar to some people I know in real life, actually. Everything he has done in this fic are things that I have actually seen grown men do to people, especially young girls)  
> Also, a character is chained up and there is discussion of the last chapter.

Thor woke up, wincing. He rolled over and fell right off of the bed.

He groaned.

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Loki sat on a chair in chains. The strange auras had disappeared, but he was still blue, surprising Thor.

Loki wasn’t generally comfortable showing himself as he was in front of people other than family or other Jotnar, even the Avengers, unless the situation was dire. And here he was, just… sitting there.

“They keep shocking me every time I try to shift back,” he explained, reading the question on Thor’s face. “Apparently, the Grandmaster  _ prefers  _ me this way.”

His disgust was clear and Thor shared in it. The more he learned about the ruler of this world, the more he wanted to smash his head in…

“Where are we?” Thor looked around at the room. It was hard to really pay attention to anything else besides the horribly clashing red and white walls.

“The Warrior’s Suite.” Loki fidgeted in his bindings. “It’s where the champions are kept in between their matches. Don’t try to leave; the door may be open, but the disks keep you from using it.”

Thor walked over, still stiff from the obedience disk’s shock, and tried to break the metal chains to no avail.

“I already tried that,” the younger brother huffed. “It’s also ice-proof.”

Thor studied his brother intently.

“Why did you do that?”

Loki closed his eyes and sighed.

“I already told you. They would have killed us both if we didn't fight.” He looked his brother in the eye. “Better for one of us to die than for Hela to go unopposed and our friends to never know what happened to us.”

Thor frowned but couldn't argue. Loki was right, but he still didn't have to like it.

“Hang on. You lost,” Thor mused. “If this place is for the winner, what are you doing here?”

Loki glowered.

“The Grandmaster was angry that you were going to try and kill him, but I convinced him into believing that it was because you were angry that he had pitted you against me.” He rolled his eyes. “I played the helpless weakling who can’t even hold a weapon properly and needs the protection of his older brother to survive.”

Thor stared in disbelief.

“And they believed that?  _ You? _ ”

Loki smirked.

“All they saw was how I held that axe.”

Thor matched his brother’s expression.

“That was  _ truly _ pathetic.”

Loki was about to make a remark when a small group of guards entered the room.

They split up to reveal the Valkyrie behind them.

“Hello, boys.” She swung the blade of her sword, an actual, real-life Dragonfang, over her shoulder. “Ready for some training?”

Thor nearly slipped as he tried to lean on a nearby table, face going red as he cleared his throat.

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes but frowned and hooked a thumb at Loki.

“Can someone get those off of him? How’s he supposed to learn to fight if he can’t move his arms.”

One of the guards scrambled to unchain the trickster, much to Loki’s barely veiled relief.

“Come on.” She jerked her head for the duo to follow her.

The guards prepared to follow, but she waved them off.

“Do you really think I can’t handle these two morons?” She waved a remote just like the one the Grandmaster had in the air before turning back to lead the brothers around the corner and through the hall.

“Morons?” Thor whispered when he thought they were far enough away.

“Really, Thor?”

The Valkyrie shook her head in exasperation as she lead them down the hall.

Thor shrugged but got back to the subject at hand.

“Are we escaping?”

She looked back at Loki.

“Are you sure you want to claim him as your brother?”

Loki shrugged.

“He’s actually a lot brighter, usually. You just make him nervous.”

Thor gaped, embarrassment flooding his cheeks yet again.

Voices came from around the corner and Valkyrie turned around, shoving them both back by their chests. She leaned around, counting the guards.

“Six. That’s two a piece, but neither of you have any weapons and my controller doesn’t have access to release you from your disks.”

Thor thought for a moment before smacking Loki in the shoulder.

“We should do  _ Get Help! _ ”

Loki grimaced.

“No, it’s humiliating.”

Thor furrowed his brows.

“No, it isn’t.”

“Not for you, but it is for me.”

Thor frowned.

“Oh.” He’d never thought about it that way before. “Did you have another plan?”

Loki smirked.

“Well, since you suggested  _ Get Help _ …”

  
  
  


The guards lay on the floor, groaning in their unconscious states.

Loki giggled.

“Shut up,” Thor grumbled.

“Now, will you be suggesting  _ Get Help _ anytime soon?”

Thor glared, but ended up in a laughing fit, too.

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

“Can we go now?”

They shoved the guards in a closet, stacking them up to make enough room, before continuing down the halls.

“Why are you helping us?” Loki was studying the Valkyrie.

She chuckled darkly.

“I’ve spent the past few thousand years running from my past, hiding from my own mind in a drunken haze and forcing other people into physical slavery while I was trapped in chains of my own making. One day I met two girls with a message from myself-” She held up the necklace. “offering a way out and hope for the future.”

She looked down, off into the middle distance.

“I may not  _ deserve _ a second chance, but I’d like to try to get there.”

They lapsed into silence.

Halfway down a hall, the disk on Thor’s neck powered down and fell into his hand. He looked over to Loki and saw him rubbing the markings left behind by his own controller.

The Valkyrie smiled.

“You can thank Magda for that.”

They kept going, taking an elevator.

Thor cleared his throat.

“I realize that I never asked your name.”

Loki pretended not to be paying attention by looking out the window, studying some random building in the distance. (But he was smiling)

The Valkyrie shook her head but there was a small smile there.

“Brunnhilde.”

Thor smiled, too.

Loki cleared his throat as the door opened and they stepped out onto a whole floor littered with guards.

Brunnhilde stepped over the bodies and walked straight through to where a collection of ships were docked.

Torunn stuck her head out of one of them, a grin on her face, and leapt out.

Thor jogged over, picking her up and embracing her. He pulled back and ran a hand lightly over her hair.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded.

“We’re all fine.” She looked past him and waved to her uncle. “Nice haircuts, by the way.”

Loki glowered, but there was no real heat in his eyes.

“Are we ready to go?” Brunnhilde climbed into the ship, checking the controls.

The others followed, but Thor stopped before getting in.

“Where’s Magda?”

A shadow coalesced next to him and became solid.

“Right here.” She pulled herself up onto the ship and sat in the pilot’s seat. “The prisoners are armed and revolting, so we need to move quickly.”

“Remember what I taught you?” Brunnhilde helped her pull the seat belts tight over her shoulder.

“Yes, mama.”

Torunn produced two large machine guns and began riveting them to the floor on either side of the ship in front of the open doors, Loki helping her hold them in place.

Brunnhilde jumped out of the ship.

“Magda knows how to fly and Torunn can fire a gun with the best of them.”

“Where are you going?”

She grinned.

“To give you some cover.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thor's a dork and Loki's a good bro.  
> And see? Torunn and Magda are safe, healthy, and in one piece. They've had two weeks to prep for this nonsense.
> 
> And for those of you who aren't on my tumblr, I watched Infinity War for the first time today and... *screams of horror* Guys... Where was Wanda's accent? And how could Eitri have made the gauntlet in the two days since Asgard fell when Thanos was wearing it in the post-credit scenes from films six years ago??? Like... What??? These movies are billion dollar industries on their own. I didn't even watch past him getting the Soul Stone (which, by the way, is a /great/ message for abusers everywhere. Great job, writers. 9.9 ) because I couldn't handle the horrible, useless writing.  
> It was all pointless angst and pain with no other reason for it than to make us hurt. Writers, that's not a story, that's the Iron Maiden. (Not the band, the torture device)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still very sick. Forgive me if the editing is horrible for the end of this, but I've tried my best. I can't breathe and not enough oxygen is getting to my brain.  
> Good news, though! I finished the Infinity War outline (took me fifteen hours) and it is color-coded, so I should be able to write that while I am sick and then edit when I'm feeling better.  
> My sister and I came up with epilogues by total accident for a few of the characters and I will have to write a few of those. @couchpotaito on tumblr is already making me art for one of them??? (I nearly cried when I saw the mock-up for that, because it is exactly what I saw in my head. You, my dear, are a mind reader)
> 
> Warnings: There will not be any more mentions of the Grandmaster after this ever again. There is a reference to his, *ahem*, "good times" because I thought Thor's line was funny, but that's it.  
> There are mentions of death for the rest of the series and dead bodies for much of it (it's Hela. *shrugs*) but I think those are all in this chapter.

The Palace Patrol ships followed them, firing right across their bow.

Torunn and Loki (now shifted back into his Asgardian form) fired back, but the guns were at awkward angles from inside the ship and weren’t hitting very well.

“Where are the guns on this ship?” Thor called up to Magda.

“You’re looking at them.” She veered to miss an incoming missile. “This is a leisure vessel. The Grandmaster uses it for his good times.”

Thor looked around, noting the mirrors on the ceiling and the fuzzy rugs on the floor. It clicked fairly quickly what she meant.

“Don’t touch anything,” he shouted back up to his daughter.

She laughed.

Out of one of the windows, Thor saw Brunnhilde’s ship below begin to smoke and spark and go into a twisting dive and crash into another ship.

Thor’s lungs seized, but he didn’t have much time before a loud  _ Thwack! _ could be heard from the front of the ship.

Brunnhilde hung onto the windshield with a wide grin on her face, Torunn whooping and hollering.

Thor shushed her as another ship fired at them and sent them lurching.

“Get inside,” he called to the Valkyrie.

“In a minute!” She ran down the roof, jumped off, and landed hard on a Sakaarian ship.

Thor watched as she began tearing into the hull with her bare hands.

He groaned in exasperation and turned to his brother.

“Watch the girls.” And he leapt out after her, tearing off the guns and engines of whatever ship he landed on first before leaping to the next.

The two Asgardians fought in tandem, tearing through the enemies’ fighters. Thor couldn’t help but join in with Brunnhilde’s laughter as they climbed back aboard their own ship.

Torunn and Loki closed the doors on either side of the ship before Torunn began attaching ropes to various surfaces and to everyone’s belts.

“Uh.” Thor’s good mood disappeared. “What are these for?”

“Safety measures.”

Loki tested his harness, satisfied, before turning to Magda.

“Are we sure this is going to work?”

“It worked for you last time.”

“What worked?” Thor made his way to the cockpit and froze.

A massive, swirling vortex of terror roared in front of them and the ship was heading straight for it.

Inside, on the very end, he could see stars that he recognized as the same constellations you saw around Asgard.

“Hold on,” Magda ordered as they were swallowed.

The onboard computer shorted out, lights blowing and the hull creaked under the strain.

Pain. Immense pain, like his head was being crushed under a heavy weight, and then…

Thor blinked up at the ceiling, unsure of how he’d wound up on the floor.

He sat up, much too quickly and sending his head spinning.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Roll call,” Brunnhilde coughed. “Magda? Torunn?”

“Present.”

“Let’s never do that again.”

Loki sat up, clutching his head.

“I second that motion.”

Thor sighed in relief. He stood and looked out the window, leaning over Magda’s seat. She was still strapped in, thanks to the seatbelt.

Out the window he saw Asgard in ruins, just like his dream but without the fire. Buildings were toppled, soldiers were left to rot where they had fallen, and there were no living people anywhere to be seen.

Brunnhilde slipped up next to him.

“I never thought I’d be back here.”

Magda lowered the ship below the clouds, landing near the Bifrost.

Even closer, Thor couldn’t see anything hopeful. It was all… dead.

“Here, up in the mountains.” Brunnhilde pointed to a map she brought up on the console with a cluster of small red dots gathered together in an old Aesir stronghold. “Heat signatures, people gathered together. Hela’s coming for them.”

Thor’s stomach dropped.

“That’s where mother is,” Loki said what he was already thinking.

Thor nodded.

“Okay, drop me off at the palace and I’ll draw her away.”

Brunnhilde started to object, but Torunn interrupted.

“No, the people trapped down there are all that matters. Hela’s only real contenders to the throne are father and Uncle Loki, so let them distract her long enough for us to get everyone out of here.”

Brunnhilde huffed out a frustrated growl.

“On  _ what _ ? This ship isn’t big enough!”

Thor ran a hand over his lack of hair (that was never going to not be weird to him) as he tried to think of an idea, but was interrupted by another ship appearing out of nowhere and landing nearby.

The crew of the Commodore disembarked to meet the newcomers.

The side of the new ship bore the mark of the Jotnar, making Loki grin when the doors opened and a ramp was lowered.

An army of Jotnar stepped out, led by Laufey himself.

“Father,” Loki greeted with a smile.

Brunnhilde’s eyes widened. She pointed between Thor and Loki.

“I thought you two were brothers.”

“We are.” Loki shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

Laufey chuckled and bowed.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Brunnhilde. Uma has told me much about you.”

Thor frowned, but didn’t comment.  _ Why did he know and not me? _

Uma came running from the city with a gold- and white-plated set of armor in her arms, handing it off to the Valkyrie.

Brunnhilde blinked, unable to say anything.

“I think it’s best you get changed quickly.” Laufey conjured a large dagger and signaled for his army to begin marching. “We have a lot of work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my day off, so I'll post another chapter tonight like usual.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers go to face Hela.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little early, but this chapter is up. There's only one chapter left and I /really/ want to post it tonight, too, but I'm going to try and see if I can keep my self-control.
> 
> Warnings: Death and dead bodies. (The latter are only mentioned once, but this is all Hela and we all expect this stuff around her)  
> There are references to lies and falsehoods from a parent, as well as emotional distress caused by them. (It references bad parenting quite a lot in this chapter)  
> And, just to be safe, I'm going to give a blanket warning for Hela's special brand of psychosis. She's bloodthirsty and nostalgic for the war and bloodshed of the past, and there's a lot not right about that.

Thor and Loki march through the palace, past the mangled corpses of men and women they had known in life, had fought beside, had been friends with.

So much death. It ached in Thor’s chest, the emptiness that all of these lost lives left behind. These were his people and, with his father’s death, they were  _ his _ responsibility to protect.

Loki put a hand on his shoulder.

“You couldn’t have changed this.”

Thor nodded. The logic was sound, but he was an emotional man and logic didn’t affect that.

His footsteps echoed as they entered the throne room, various items from the vaults scattered around the throne.

He nearly tripped over a piece of plaster bearing his face and looked up to see…

In the place of the history of Asgard, the stories he had known for his whole childhood and the pictures he had loved to look at for hours on end, were entirely different frescoes.

These had been hidden, covered and replaced to hide the true history of their people; a history full of death and destruction. They had been conquerors, murderers.

Of all the lies Odin had told, the horrors he had inflicted on his family, this might just be the  _ worst  _ because it affected their  _ people _ and not just their family.

Loki stood next to him, studying the images.

“Is this what it feels like to be lied to?” Thor hadn’t meant to be so quiet, but his brother heard him anyways.

“To have everything you’ve ever known stripped away and paraded in front of you, but twisted into a cruel mockery? Yes.”

Loki didn’t mean it to be cruel, he knew, but it still stung. Thor couldn’t be upset, though. It was easier for him to understand his brother now.

He pointed up to a fresco near the side.

“Will you look at that?”

Their fathers stood side by side, seeming to be trading and at peace.

The brothers shared a look, Loki smiling a little.

“There was peace once. Maybe there can be again?”

Thor thought for a moment.

“I think that’ll be my first decree, actually.”

Loki grinned.

  
  
  


Loki felt for his seiðr, mentally cataloguing how much he had left. Sakaar had drained much of it from him, and the Grandmaster’s presence drained even more.

Thor sat on the throne, rhythmically slamming the hilt of Gungnir into the floor.

They both kept in mind the plan. It would work, they’d been assured it would.   
The twins had gone to evacuate the refugees with a small band of Jotunn spies, Lenore would be leading a raid on the Vault, and most everyone else would be leading different contingents of Laufey’s army to take on Hela’s Butcher’s while the princes kept her distracted.   
Byleistr, being a pacifist, had been assigned to aid and dispatch the medics to wherever they were needed with Asmund's help. Loki hoped they wouldn’t be needed as much as he expected they would.   
The entirety of the Jotunn royal family was on the front lines for this battle.

A dark, sickly sweet feeling swept through the throne room as Hela stepped in.

Thor stopped his noise.

“Sister.”

Hel smiled, casually crossing the floor, dodging the fallen pieces of the ceiling.

“You’re still alive.”

Thor ignored her.

“I love what you’ve done with the place.” He stood, waving a hand at the room. “Redecorating, I see.”

She shrugged with one shoulder.

“It seems our father’s solution to every problem was to cover it up.”

“Or cast it out.” He paused. “He told you that you were worthy. He said the same thing to us.”

Hela walked lazily between the rubble.

“You never knew him, not at his best, not really.” She sighed, full of nostalgia. “Odin and I drowned entire civilizations in blood and tears. Where do you think all this gold came from?”

She waved a hand at the treasures scattered around and the walls that had been painted with melted gold long before either brother had been born.

It made Loki shiver to hear the sadness in her voice for the loss of all that pain and misery on the part of others.

“And then one day he decided to become a benevolent king, to foster peace, to protect life.” She glared at Thor, teeth bared. “To have you.”

Thor held up his hands in supplication.

“I understand you’re angry, but you are my sister.” He shook his head. “I do not wish to fight you.”

Hela laughed wickedly.

“Oh, you are mother’s son.”

Thor froze, relief in his voice.

“You know, that’s the first time in my life anyone has ever said that to me.”

Hela gagged.

“You have  _ got to be kidding me. _ ” She conjured a pair of daggers and prepared to throw them, but Frigga’s voice echoed through the chamber.

“Hela, daughter,  _ please _ .”

Hela rolled her eyes as she turned to her mother.

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” She cocked her head to the side mockingly. “Had enough hiding from your problems?”

Loki’s eyes darted back and forth between his mother and sister.

“I failed you, I know. Asgard’s laws forbade me from speaking against your father, but that was no excuse.” Frigga looked between her sons and daughter. “I failed all three of you, leaving you to be molded into whatever way he saw fit and I was wrong. All I can say is that I was afraid and I am  _ sorry _ .”

She turned to Hela.

“If you want to blame anyone, blame me. Leave your brothers out of it.”

Hela’s lips pulled back, revealing her teeth in a horrifying approximation of a smile.

“How about I just kill you first and circle back?” She charged at their mother, bringing a blade down on the older woman.

Frigga had just enough time to call her own sword and catch the black blade, but Hela was too strong.

Loki threw a dagger, but Hela caught it with one hand and threw it back, catching him in the side.

Thor tackled her, making her laugh more than anything but giving Frigga an opening to escape.

“Get her out of here,” Thor called to his brother.

Loki took his mother’s hand, his other hand spreading a protective shell of ice over his bleeding side, and ran.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank @couch-potaito for feeding my poor self-control.  
> I am trying to write the Infinity War storyline, but that may take a bit, so if you want to be added to the tag list on tumblr come message me @squeaky-floorboards and I'll keep you updated on where I am on that.
> 
> Warnings: Hela is very violent and the whole thing contains a huge battle.

Hela pinned Thor to the wall.

“Aw, poor little prince,” she cooed. “Tried to protect his mommy and now he’s going to die for it.”

She slammed him back against the wall again.

“Before you die, though, I want to tell you something: Here’s the difference between us.” She leaned in close. “I’m Odin’s firstborn, the rightful heir, the savior of Asgard.”

Her claws tightened around his throat, digging into the skin.

“Even that pathetic welp you call a brother is more likely to be able to defeat me. But you? You’re nothing.” She loosened her grip with a grin.

A large, spiked lance appeared above them and Thor barely had time to move before it punctured the wall right where he had been.

He headbutted Hela, hurting himself instead.

She grabbed him, smirking, and headbutted him in return. Thor stumbled, stunned.

“So simple, even a blind man could see it.”

She held up a black-clawed hand and raked it across Thor’s face, taking his right eye with her as he stumbled back in pain.

“Now you remind me of dad.”

Thor growled but it was cut off when she grabbed him by the throat and held him over the balcony, showing him the battlefield below.

“You see? No one’s going anywhere.”

He could see his family, friends, strangers, Aesir and Jotnar and one human, fighting side-by-side against the Butchers. Though they weren’t winning, they were still holding their ground and standing together.

It gave him hope.

He chuckled.

“You’re not paying attention, sister.” He looked back at her with his one good eye, smirking. “So simple, even a blind man could see it.”

“What?” she snapped, angry at his mocking of her earlier words.

“You’re fighting for power, revenge, anger.” Electricity began to snake up his arms, sparking from his empty eye-socket. “But us? We’re fighting for each other.”

A bright light lit up  _ everything _ and sent Hela flying off the balcony and into the streets below.

Thor felt more energized than he’d ever felt in his life.

The strange auras were back, but he found that they didn’t bother him this time.

The Butchers had no aura, making it easy for him to know what was friend and foe with a single glance as he leapt from the balcony and landed on the bridge, cracking the rainbow beneath his feet.

Somewhere around him, he could hear cheers from the teenagers and a few members of the Jotunn army, but they were mostly drowned out by the steady hum of electricity and the rumble of thunder in his veins.

Thor began tearing through the Butchers ten at a time. His allies gave him a wide berth, allowing him to clear the path while they guarded the civilians on the way to the ship.

Yasha, covered in soot and blood and wielding a sword of his own, appeared at his back.

“We tossed the mutt over the edge.” He paused to throw a Butcher into another’s weapon, knocking the both of them off the Bridge. “We have to get everyone on the ship before Lenore lets Surtur loose.”

Thor’s lightning thinned and he turned to the young man.

“Why would she do  _ that _ ?” His eye was wide.

“Because it’s the only way to stop Hela.”

Thor began making a path for the fleeing Asgardians, the Jotnar picking up the weak, the old, and the young to make their way through.

Laufey iced the path behind the crowd of survivors, making it nearly impossible for the undead creatures to follow but they just climbed over their fallen comrades.

The civilians made it all safely to the ship, everyone clambering aboard behind them, but more of the undead creatures were coming.

Loki appeared next to his brother.

“What happened to your face?”

Thor glared, causing Loki to hold up both hands in surrender.

“Ship first, brotherly bonding later,” Yasha ordered as Lenore came flying over the army of Butchers, landing hard on the ground and rolling next to the ship.

Hela appeared, seething in rage, just behind the mass of reanimated corpses stretching back to the city.

The new guardian of the Bifrost (Thor  _ still  _ couldn’t remember his name) came between them and threw off the cloak he had been wearing, wielding two large, human weapons.

“Go, run! I’ll hold her off.”

Lenore rolled her eyes and grabbed the man by his shoulder plating, dragging him back with them as the last of the army ran into the ship.

“I applaud the growth of a conscience, but we’ve got this covered.”

A deafening explosion drowned out all noise and knocked Thor to his knees, Loki falling beside him on the ramp. Two Jotunn soldiers grabbed them both and dragged them inside as the two stared back at Surtur.

The Muspel’s arrival shook the floating island’s very bedrock, fissures spreading across the land just as the ship left the ground.

The ramp lifted, enclosing them inside the safety of the ship.

Thor rushed to a window, needing to see the conclusion with his own eye.

Hela stood on the Bridge, facing down Surtur.

A massive spike stabbed him in the chest, Hela making a valiant effort at fighting the giant, flaming monster.

Surtur wound up his sword and drove it straight down, through Hela, and into the heart of Asgard.

Thor watched as, after a moment, his home exploded into a billion tiny pieces.

“What have I done?”

Laufey, who had been standing over him the whole time, spoke up.

“You saved your people from extinction.”

He turned halfway, facing his daughters.

“This wasn’t about stopping Ragnarok, was it?”

“No.”Torunn shook her head

Heimdall stepped forward and bowed.

“You saved us all. Well done, my king.”

The Aesir, every single one of them, though they were few, knelt to their new ruler.

Thor looked around.

They were in a cargo hold, the entirety of the Asgardian people.

What was left of their society, their history and culture, was in this room.

Based on appearances alone, the survivors were all artists and craftsmen, farmers and laborers. There weren’t hardly any members of the Einherjar, no warriors.

There was no one to carry on their tradition of violence. The closest thing they had were his family, sworn to protect life and innocence wherever and in whatever form they found it, and Heimdall, sworn to do as the king asked.

He thought back to what he knew of their true history, what was on that mural Odin had tried so hard to hide, what their society’s bedrock had  _ truly _ been.

This was a good start for a new beginning.

Loki smiled at him from the corner, reading his thoughts perfectly as he always had.

Speaking of new beginnings…

Thor turned to Laufey.

“It is my understanding that Jotunheim and Asgard were at peace once, a long time ago.”

The king smiled.

“That we were.”

“As my first act as king, I would like to reinstate that peace, if you will accept.”

Laufey turned to the people gathered around, addressing them all.

“Rather than accept a paltry treaty, I wish to offer the Aesir permanent refuge amongst the Jotnar.” He turned to Thor with a smile and an outstretched hand. “We are family after all.”

Frigga, seated near Loki with Asmund in her lap, smiled warmly.

Thor took the man’s hand without hesitation.

Cheers rose up from both sides.

No, wait. From  _ their _ side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you like that ending?

**Author's Note:**

> I do have to remind you to actually read the tags.  
> There is funny stuff (as seen in this chapter, for instance) but it's killer throughout when it comes to emotions. (Loki... Baby, no. Find another option)


End file.
